i will answer my own question, kind of...it's some kind of yonex event/clinic in japan couple of weeks ago involving some juniors, matsumoto/nagahara as well as axelsen, intanon, sukamuljo and gideon. here is one of them playing fun XD. here is the info https://www.badmintonplanet.com/bad...jo-play-young-japanese-badminton-players.html
I heard the news about corruption in Japan badminton: "On March 25, Beijing time, the Japanese media "Yomiuri Shimbun" reported that the Japan Badminton Association was exposed in 2018, a scandal involving embezzlement and misappropriation of 6.1 million yen by employees occurred, and the party was later found to have misappropriated in 2020 700,000 yen of public funds, involving a total of 6.8 million yen (about 354,000 yuan), some of these public funds are the travel expenses of the Japanese national team players to go abroad for competitions, most of which are bonuses won by players in competitions." https://inf.news/en/sport/1130eaf90206a9cea49a27cce2074a4c.html So, can this be a fake news or this site is a gossip magazine ? Does anyone know about 6.1 million yen ?
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/eccadd997fd03d19d8ec524988331ddbbfa6c9b0 Can you summarize this article please, I can't understand all of the news in it.
Momota is not on the list of players going to the Denmark Open and French Open that was just published yesterday ! Is he injured, taking a break from badminton, NBA messing it up again, or is it something else? I can see his name in the Denmark Open draw for now. This would mean that his last tournament for the year was Japan Open! It's going to be a long break before the next tournament in January. I'm not sure if a 4-month break is going to help his insecurity problem, seeing how everything kind of went downhill after that long injury break last winter. This is starting to look ominous. I would hate to see him end his career with all these issues still unresolved. On the other hand, Midorikawa/Saito are being sent to French Open and Hylo Open. It looks like the NBA is giving them more attention. I'd be shocked if they're not promoted to Team A next year.
I didn't see any formal information of it. Instagram's Momota didn't say anything, Wiki didn't show anything ?
I'd think its good for him to take a break. Its not that he is rusty and need competition to shake off the rust. he is having mental issues and experience a total lack of confidence in his play. You could argue that playing and winning matches will help him regain his confidence, but losing (and to players with a lesser pedigree) will make it worse too. So yeah, perhaps he should return to circuit after he sort out his mental problem.
Does momota usually takes part in Australia? And SYQ having to play qualifying, Aus is gonna be interesting
Since Australia has gone down to super tour 300, Japan's team haven't taken part there as they used to. I remember Momota didn't play at New Zealand (when Momota comeback in 2017, President of BWF Larsen, call Momota to go to New Zealand next time at Australia Open podium)
Due to the recent cancellations of the tournaments in China and HK, the NBA updated their schedule to also send Team A to the Australia Super 300. Originally, they only planned to send the B+ players.
All Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand players are in Denmark now. And I cannot find any picture from Japan players. Momota's name was still on Denmark Open draw although many news showed that he will withdraw. What's happening ?
